Not just any Christian university: Why orthodox Christianity and heart devotion matter

Monday, October 22, 2012

If the past four centuries have proved anything, it’s that “Christian” higher education doesn’t necessary build up the faith and welfare of its students. Instead, if the study of any subject, including God’s Word, is separated from God Himself, it actually tears away at a student’s faith, morality, and aspirations.

Many famous agnostics and atheists—including Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Ernst Haeckel, David Friedrich Strauss, Charles Darwin, Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche—pursued theological studies divorced from heart devotion to God. Most of them attended universities rich in religious tradition, either Catholic or Protestant. By the time they graduated, any faith they might have had was washed away. The same trend has grown only more alarming over the past few generations.

Best-selling author and Christian psychologist Larry Crabb, who experientially “lost” his faith as a young man said, “When I got into graduate school, I told myself not to believe anything that would require me to dump my intellect. Several psychology professors told me that I could not be a good psychologist and still believe in nonsensical Christianity. So for a year or two I became a self-chosen agnostic. I wanted to start from scratch to see what is true.”

Of course, Crabb later discovered: “Being an orthodox Christian means allowing the truth of Christianity to be absorbed into one’s soul, which [completely] changes one’s approach to life.”

At Corban, transformative learning isn’t just a theme. Instead, it’s the hallmark of the Corban difference.